


Labyrinth

by doseofcaffeine



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-06
Updated: 2015-10-14
Packaged: 2018-04-25 03:32:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4945183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doseofcaffeine/pseuds/doseofcaffeine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After HYDRA attack a party you were attending, you end up living with the Avengers in the tower. At first everything is pretty easy, but of course, you can't hide your past forever...</p><p>((There is mild talk of non consent, but nothing graphic))</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at an actual fanfic, so I really hope it doesn't suck... Please feel free to give me constructive criticism. Thank you.

Water slid down your (Y/S/B) body as you shook the last remaining dribble of rose scented conditioner from the container and massaged it into your hair, trying to get every last bit of it. You let it soak and you slathered creamy shaving cream along your leg to shave. You had just about finished the second leg when a loud knock sounded from the bathroom door, your hand jerked and sliced at your supple (Y/S/C) skin, a line of blood trickled down your calf becoming watery as it was washed away.  
"Seriously, Lydia!" you cried out, glaring at the door you knew your best friend was behind.  
"Wait... What did I interrupt? Were you masturbating to thoughts of St-" she began before you drowned her out with a loud "shut up!"  
You could hear her cackling through the door and could almost image the look on her petite face at having gotten you to yell. Although she was mainly a good person, she had her moments where she enjoyed being a stirrer.  
You turned off the shower taps "was there something you wanted?" you called, listening for your friend's honey-coated voice.  
"I was just telling you that we have 30 minutes before we leave and that I'm going to call a taxi" she replied  
"In New York... You're calling a taxi in New York... Why can't we just walk?"  
"I am not walking in these heels!"  
"Then walk barefoot!"  
"And get stabbed by a druggie needle and have to be rushed to hospital to await my death?!"  
"Ugh... You're impossible... Hurry up and call a taxi"  
You went back to your shower and finished up your shaving routine and rinsed out your hair. You stepped out and began toweling yourself dry with the whitest and probably fluffiest towel you had ever seen. You were finally here, in New York. Your friend had wrangled two tickets to a Tony party and had invited you along for the ride, knowing how much you loved the Avengers. At first you had played it cool, pretending you were more interested in a trip to New York than to a Tony Stark hosted party.  
You still weren't quite sure how Lydia had gotten the tickets, her eyes had seemed scheming and she had ducked the question when you had asked.  
You fitted yourself into a slimming (Y/F/C) dress and looked yourself over in the mirror, the dress suited you to a tee. That's why you had picked it out when Lydia had mentioned the invite.  
You stared at the make-up on the counter for a moment, looking it over carefully, before deciding to do a small amount of make-up. Just the basics, and of course, red lipstick that you'd had color matched against your skin at a store not so long ago.  
You smiled at your reflection, and when you were happy with your look you stepped out of the bathroom to be face-to-face with an anxious Lydia who began to look you over immediately. When she had finished she gave you a dazzling smile “you clean up well, (Y/N)… Just let me fix your hair”.  
In no time she had it as perfect as possible and you both grinned at each other before putting on your heels and heading out.

The arrival was quiet and you didn’t have a fanfare like the others whom had gone in before you, but you were okay with being unknown. You were used to it even.  
It wasn’t until Lydia had dragged you over to the free bar, and started plying you with alcohol, that you started to loosen up a little bit. You even talked to people that weren’t Lydia which you had both found quite shocking. Who knew you were so sociable when you were drunk?  
Eventually you made your way outside on to a balcony with a glass of chardonnay, just needing to get some fresh air. You had seen the Avengers, albeit from afar, but still. You had seen the mighty Avengers and this was the happiest moment in your life.  
The room had been decked out in reds and golds, as though Tony was throwing his Iron Man image into the party, although everything matched rather well and the food and drinks had been exquisite. A small sigh of relief left your lips as you rested against the balcony railing.  
"Well this has been a terrific day" you spoke to yourself, a small smile twitching at your lips as you took another sip of your chardonnay.  
You turned about to go back in when you saw a man in the shadows, years of mixed martial arts had you sliding your feet into an attack stance, your hand curling about the flute of chardonnay was still delicate for now.  
"Who are you?" You asked, staring at the shadowed man.  
"Sorry ma'am, I didn't mean to startle you. I was already sitting out here and didn't know how to politely tell you I was here"  
You slid your foot back into a normal stance and smiled "a simple, hello, would have sufficed"  
The man stepped forward, a soft smile on his lips, his baby blue eyes seemed amused "sorry, I haven't introduced myself" he held out his hand "Steve Rogers"  
You took his hand and shook it a little baffled "(Y/N) (Y/L/N)" you looked him over quickly, you had dreamt of meeting this man many times. The blue button up long sleeved shirt he was in had the sleeves rolled up and his black slacks had been pressed "I'm sorry, I uh... I don't know how to continue this conversation" you admitted with a shaky laugh.  
"Well, there's a railing we could be leaning against. Might make you less nervous if you have something else to look at"  
You nodded and the pair of you walked over to the railing and leant against it, your hands dangling over the edge. The flute of chardonnay still in your hand, the contents spilling down to the ground below. A small blush crept along your cheeks but Steve chuckled.  
"So what's a girl like you, doing in a place like this?"  
"I honestly don't know, my friend got tickets somehow and dragged me willingly along"  
"Willingly?"  
"Well... I hate people... Well no... That's wrong" you paused to think "I hate big crowds, but I love parties... If that makes sense"  
Steve nodded beside you "I think it does"  
You both looked down at the city street, watching as cars went past like ants scurrying home.  
"What's a guy like you doing in a place like this?"  
"Well, Tony pretty much forced me to come this time... I was pretty set on fixing up my motorcycle..."  
"Planning to get away?" you asked, curious.  
"Something like-"  
A crash sounded behind you, Steve and yourself spun out of the way just in time to miss the hurtling shattered glass that was spitting your way.  
A man in black tactical gear stood before you both, Steve slid in front of you as you peeked from behind him, looking at the strange emblem on the guys right arm. At first you thought it was an octopus, but now you weren't quite sure. It seemed to have a skull as well.  
"I'm pretty sure HYDRA wasn't invited to this party" noted Steve, as he watched the man.  
"You're coming wi-" the man started before a large force slammed into his back, you could hear the audible crack of his spine breaking. The man crumpled to the ground, behind him stood a built man with billowing blonde hair, an over sized hammer in one hand and a shield in the other.  
He was looking at Steve "there's more inside" he commented, throwing the shield to Steve who caught it easily.  
"Thanks, Thor"  
Thor turned back around to rejoin the fight. All you could hear from the balcony was screaming and things being broken.  
"This is probably the safest place for you, Miss (Y/L/N)" Steve told you, seemingly giving you an order to stay put as he followed after Thor.  
You placed your back to the wall, your heart going as fast as a jackhammer, the fear of being attacked was trying to strangle you. That's when your eyes widened and you remembered Lydia was inside.  
You couldn't leave Lydia in there alone, she had been your friend since kindergarten when she had refused to spell her last name because it was difficult and you had refused to spell your name just to annoy the teacher.  
You gathered yourself together, took a deep breath and pulled away from the wall to walk inside the once decked out hall that was now in shambles.  
Blood pooled on the ground close by and you almost ran back outside when you saw the body it was coming from. You didn't want to think of who had killed this person. Your eyes scanned up at your own height, refusing to look down again. Looking for the plume of black that was Lydia's hair.  
You ducked behind an upturned table as you watched the fighting going on, guests ran from the gunmen, the Avengers worked together like a dream team. All but Bruce Banner, he was against the far wall in front of some civilian's. You knew who he was without having to be introduced, as you had known the other two without being introduced. Bruce Banner had written one of your favorite scientific books. You shook your head and began looking for Lydia again before you were grabbed from behind. Iron like arms gripped your arms and chest in a vice like grip, lifting you up.  
You had to think quickly, as you felt yourself being squeezed harder. You let your body go limp and tried to think heavy thoughts, you swung one leg forward then kicked back as hard as you could were the groin should be. You missed the groin, but your heel stabbed into the mans thigh and his arms released you.  
You tangled to the floor, your heel staying in the man's leg, you quickly kicked off the other heel and scrambled to get up then bolted towards Bruce. You skidded the last few seconds, and crashed against the wall.  
It wasn't a large impact but you were still asked if you were okay. You nodded quickly, and scanned again for Lydia. There she was, you saw her dainty russet shoulders in the green dress that she'd been wearing that evening.  
You ran over, "Lydia!" you gave a quiet cry as she turned about, she had a cruel expression on her face. Which slid into a mask of polite humor "(Y/N), I hope tonight didn't scare you too much"  
You backed away, one soft word tumbled from your lips "no"


	2. Betrayal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully this is going well so far... So yeah, I ended up adding more to the first chapter because I didn't think it'd make sense starting the second chapter from where I had left off last time

Lydia smiled at your horrified face, there was a small pained expression in her eyes that was akin to sadness "I'm sorry you had to find out this way... I was hoping to have gotten you away before this all commenced, but I couldn't find you" she explained, looking you over. She frowned "where are your shoes? Did somebody hurt you?" her voice was concerned as she looked over your disheveled form.  
You shook your head, your (Y/H/C) felt frizzy about your face, you wanted to pinch yourself and wake up. You wanted to slap Lydia across the face. You wanted to grab her and get her to tell you that it wasn't real.  
"I'm truly sorry that you had to witness this... It was just easier to get in with a civilian and I knew how much you loved the Avengers" she continued as you back away, she stepped forward "(Y/N), listen to me... I don't want you to get hurt, I love you. You're my best friend"  
She reached out a hand and grabbed your upper arm "there's still time for you to leave" she paused "or would it be easier to capture you and just take you to HQ?... I'm sure you'd underst-"  
"I don't understand" you cut in, you could fell a stabbing sensation in your chest, the start of the heartache you knew was coming "why did you do this? I thought... I thought you were a good person"  
"I am a good person, why can't you see that the Avengers are poisonous?"  
"They aren't... It's you who is poisonous!" you spat the last few words with as much venom as you could produce.  
She opened her mouth as though to say something, then closed it again "very well" she pulled you closer "I'll just have to bring you back with me"  
Lydia hooked you in the stomach with a hard blow, your legs shook beneath you and you wanted to collapse. You leaned over, to look as though you were tying to clutch your stomach, you swung one arm and punched the back of her hand at one of the vulnerable points. Her hand released and you slammed your other fist into her solar plexus.  
She doubled over and you ran, you looked back to see Lydia running after you and slammed into another person, you turned back to them "I'm sorry-"  
The man was wearing the same Hydra uniform the other man had been wearing, he grabbed you and you growled _not again_ was the thought that ran through your mind, just before a whirling shield came towards your assailants head. You ducked and the shield smashed into the guys skull, you could hear the crunching of bones and feel the spray of blood as the mans arms tightened momentarily, pulling you to the floor with him.  
His arms slackened and you shook yourself free and scooted away from the dead man, your breath was coming fast and unevenly.  
A shadow paused and you looked up to see Steve standing above you, the rest of Hydra was retreating and with a dull ache you noticed Lydia retreating with them. The sound of helicopters drowned out the noise of confused guests.  
Steve held out his hand and helped you to your feet, you stood staring at the other side of the hall as you tried to process everything that had happened. As the noise of helicopters faded you realized Steve was holding on to your arm and talking to you.  
"-stay outside?" he finished, you looked at him as he let go.  
"I'm... Sorry. I just had to save..." you stopped, you could feel tears prickling at your eyes.  
"That girl?"  
You nodded, you could feel a crack in your heart. She had been your best friend for so long, how could you have not seen this coming?  
"Come on kid, you need to rest" Steve said, for a moment he looked as though he was going to wrap an arm about you, but you flinched and he stood still "just... follow me"  
You walked after Steve's broad back as he lead you away from the destruction, every now and then he'd look back over his shoulder to check on you, to make sure you were still following. There was a small sharp pain in your heel, so you tried to stay off it as you kept up with Steve.  
He lead you outside and into the passengers side of a sleek black car then he came back around to the driver's side.  
"Tony, I have a girl from the party. She seems to have been..." he paused and looked at the blank expression on your face "...an unwilling accomplice in tonight's attack"  
A suave voice filled the car "take her back to the Tower. We can ask her more questions from there"  
Steve nodded as though Tony could see him but didn't reply.  
The silence in the car was deafening as Steve drove. You kept thinking back to that smile on Lydia's face and the sadness in her eyes, you shook your head and Steve glanced over to you then back to the road.  
"You're shivering" he noted and you looked up, looking at his profile "are you cold?"  
You looked down at your hands, only now realizing how numb your fingers felt. You gave a small nod and Steve turned on the heating.  
"It shouldn't be too long until we reach the Tower..." he trailed off once he realized you weren't listening.  
You couldn't imagine what he was seeing right now. A scared little girl who was beginning to bruise. Could he see the blood that was sticking to your skin? You knew there was also blood on your dress.  
Your nose stung as though you were about to cry, you placed your hands across your face to cover it and tried to breath normally, you needed to regain control. You didn't want to cry, you wanted to scream, to throw things and rage. You wanted to be a storm that howled, a hurricane that destroyed.  
You drew in one final breath, held it then let go. You let your hands fall back into your lap and began to breath normally again.  
You didn't want to focus on the pain in your chest, or the bruises that were probably developing on your stomach, you looked out the window instead and watched as the city passed by.


	3. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, thanks for the encouragement! I was actually really worried about my writing.  
> Especially since I wrote most of this while half asleep, but now I'm awake, I have caffeine in my system and I'm ready to go :)  
> And I like working with html, because I sort of know what I'm doing.

You sat in the chair Steve had walked you to, the room was quiet and dark. You couldn't remember the drive to the Tower or walking inside, everything still felt dream like.  
You blinked weary eyes and leant your head back against the high back of the swivel chair, looking up at the ceiling. There was a small knock on the door and you looked over to find Steve standing in the doorway with an armful of clothes and a first aid kit.  
"I'm going to turn on the light now" he announced, as though you were fragile.  
_Damn... I thought I'd been doing a good job of hiding how frightened I feel_ you thought as you whispered "okay"  
The light flickered on and you closed your eyes briefly, the brightness slightly hurt your tired eyes. You opened them again to find Steve standing closer to you, he put the clothes and first aid box, down on the glass table and sat in the seat next to you. He pulled himself a little closer "do... Do you mind if I..." he stopped and looked at your face "I need to see how bad your wounds are. Doctor Banner could do a better job of it, but he's still back at the party checking on the people there"  
You gave a slow nod, but replied "I think I just have bruising on my stomach" you replied, he looked down at the dress you were wearing and coughed.  
"Uh... There's clothes" he pushed his chair away from yours "it's not much, just a few shirts Tony had in a box... although I couldn't find pants- so uh... My sw-... Trackies" he looked slightly embarrassed by both these facts.  
He handed you a few shirts of varying sizes and colors, along with grey sweat pants "I'll just..." Steve span his chair in the opposite direction.  
You were too tired and numb to care that he was still in the same room, and it wasn't as though you hadn't changed around guys before.  
You lifted your dress up and hissed in pain as you lifted it over your head. You could feel the bruising across your stomach.  
"You alright?" Steve asked, you nodded in reply before remembering he had his back to you.  
"I'm fine" you managed to get out through your teeth as you dragged one of the tops on, you stood and pulled the sweatpants on then sat back down "okay... It's safe to... y'know... Look"  
Steve turned around and looked you over "now... If I remember correctly you had a few deep scratches on your leg"  
You frowned "I do?" you asked, how hadn't you realized. But now that he mentioned it you could feel a slight stinging on the backs of your calves.  
"Just... Put your foot up... uh.. Here" he motioned to the spot between his legs.  
You did as you were told and he gently rolled back the legs of the too long sweatpants, he lifted your leg and examined the back of your calf "mm... Not as deep as I thought it was" he let out a small breath "okay, other foot"  
You both repeated the process, he looked at the bottom of your foot "you have glass in your foot, it's probably why you were limping when you walked in" he murmured, pulling out betadine and cotton balls. He held your foot in one strong hand and pulled out a small sliver of glass with his fingers. You sucked in your breath and squeezed your eyes shut.  
"Sorry" he whispered as he applied the betadine with a cotton ball as you opened your eyes again.  
You shook your head "sorry I'm a wuss" you replied, as he stuck a bandaid over the wound.  
"Um... I need to... Uh" he paused and looked at your stomach where you had said there had been bruising.  
You nodded and lifted your shirt a little to show him, he touched it tentatively and you winced "it's just a bruise" you said as he pulled his hand back. You pulled your shirt back down.  
"We can get Banner to take an x-ray when he gets back... It's always better to be safe than sorry"  
"I'm pretty sure it's just a bruise... Nothing feels broken" you added and he gave you a tiny smile.  
"You seem pretty resilient... Look at you, not even scared"  
You barked out a laugh and Steve gave you a puzzled look "not scared?... I'm petrified. The only reason I escaped is because Lydia let me. Lydia my best friend turned monster! The one who always stuck up for me, who held my hand when my father was diagnosed with cancer. The one who held back my hair when I had drunk too much. The one whom I trusted the most in the whole fucking world!" your voice had been low, but now it felt loud and hot in the silent meeting room. Small tears trickled from your eyes as you closed them.  
Steve rested his hand on your leg as though lending you support as you finally let yourself cry, you wanted to curl in on yourself and let it all out, but the pain in your heart and the bruising on your stomach wouldn't allow it.  
After you had cried yourself out Steve removed his hand "it's been a long day, you need to rest... Can you walk?"  
You nodded and stood, but you couldn't put any pressure on the heel that had had the glass in it. You clenched your teeth when you tried.  
Steve stood "if it's too hard to walk, I'll carry you" he promised.  
You shook your head, you could do this. You both began to walk.  
Moments later your felt an arm behind your back then under your legs as Steve lifted you up "sorry, just can't let a lady walk it off" he apologized.  
You nodded and got out a barely audible "thank you"  
You saw Steve's lip twitch in a small smile as he took you down the hall into an apartment like room. He took you into the bedroom and put you on the bed as you protested "I'll be fine on the couch"  
"Yeah, not happening- I'll take the couch" he replied before grabbing a spare pillow and blanket from his wardrobe as you tried to argue further.  
"Save it" he ordered gently "it's not polite for a man to take the bed"  
With that simple statement Steve left the room and you stared at the door he had just closed.  
You shimmied yourself under the blanket and reordered the pillows that were there until you were comfortable.  
And slowly you feel asleep.

_You heard the click of the door and saw a shadow creeping in, you tried to open your mouth to scream but nothing would come out. Fire, all you could feel was fire and pain surrounding your middle. The dark figure came closer, red eyes protruding and glowing. You tried to move away but it came closer, it's tentacles coming up to wrap around and squeeze you. You couldn't breath. Lydia stood next to the beast, her eyes soulless and her usually warm face was hard "you should have listened to me" she told you, her voice dripping with flames. Finally you sucked in a deep breath and scream_

You awoke, the scream still coming from your lips. You slapped your hand over your mouth and threw off the sheets that had become tangled about your body. A moment later the door opened and Steve was standing there bleary eyed and breathing hard, he walked in as you scrambled out of the bed. You didn't put any pressure on your heel, as Steve came closer.  
"Are you alright?" he asked, looking you over quickly.  
You nodded "I'm fine..." you replied, not looking at him. He was still in the clothes from the night before, now wrinkled and untucked, his hair slightly mused.  
"That didn't seem like you were fine" he began as you clutched at your ribs, he frowned as you finally looked up at him "Banner should be back by now, you're getting an x-ray"  
You could tell that he was giving an order and you immediately wanted to dig your heels in and protest, but the pain in your ribs was making it hard for you to move.  
Steve picked you up and you whimpered and tried to protest as he began to walk, he ignored your feeble pleas when you asked him to put you down.  
He walked into a lab to find Bruce sitting in one of the chairs looking half asleep. His curled chocolate hair was messy and he had a days growth of stubble with flecks of silver through it.  
Bruce looked up as Steve walked in "this the girl from last night?" he asked as Steve put you down on the x-ray table.  
He nodded as he walked back over to Bruce, you tried to sit up but Steve shot you a look that had you laying back down.  
"She has some bruising over her ribs" he started and Bruce nodded.  
"She might have bruising on her ribs or fractured ones" he walked over and gave you a warm smile, his earth brown eyes were kind "hello, my name is Bruce Banner"  
"I know, I read your book" you stated matter of factly, "oh... (Y/N) (Y/L/N)" you added as an after thought.  
He raised his eyebrows "how did you find it?"  
"Bruce..." Steve said quietly and it seemed to bring Bruce back on track.  
"Right, x-rays first, talks of ion implantation later" he said as he began to scan you.  
About half an hour later he was done "right, so it seems you've bruised your seventh, eighth and a little of your ninth rib"  
You nodded "anyway, the way you talked about electrostatically accelerating ions was interesting, I also like the joke you put in about the photon travelling light" you chuckled and winced.  
"I was hoping that someone would laugh at that" he replied as he grab a bottle of water from a mini fridge under his desk and handed it to you, along with some pain killers.  
Steve cleared his throat and you both looked up.  
"Right, sorry- She's fine. The ribs will take about 3-4 weeks to heal" Bruce said as Steve nodded.  
"Anything we can do for it?"  
"Ice, rest and pain killers" he replied "although, Tony is going to want to talk to her about what she knows. But After that she can pretty much go back to whatever she was doing before"  
You gave him a smile as he turned back to you "great, so that means I can still go to Washington to check out the Smithsonian"  
Bruce's smile faltered "uh... You may need to rest more than travel..."  
You sighed "dang, what's the point of coming this far in America if I don't get to look at the Smithsonian?" you grumbled, before remembering why you had wanted to go in the first place. Your felt your cheeks warm up and scowled at the ground before composing yourself to look up at the two men.  
Your eyes slid to Steve momentarily before you looked away and coughed "never mind... I'm sure i can find something fun to do in New York"  
Bruce shook his head "I mean it... Rest"  
"So you mean I have to spend the rest of my trip here, holed up in my hotel room watching Netflix? If I wanted to do that, I would have stayed at home"  
Steve and Bruce sighed almost in unison.  
"Look, we'll take you to see Tony. You might not even be allowed to leave" Steve started.  
"What do you mean I might not be allowed to leave?" you asked, not liking where this was going.  
"Well... I mean... You have a direct link to a HYDRA operative. You could have a lot of information we need"  
You glared at Steve "I don't know anything" you replied, wincing as you jumped off the table.  
Bruce gave you a look as he said "take it easy"  
You nodded "take me to Mr. Stark" you told Steve.  
He looked as though he was going to say something but you put your hands up quickly "please... Just take me to him so I can find out what is happening with my life"  
Steve nodded and you put your hands back down, following him as he led the way out of the room with you limping behind and giving Bruce a quick wave to say goodbye.  
You felt sore and worn out, you knew you hadn't woken up too long ago but you were already feeling exhausted from trying to breath normally, from limping and from the pain in your ribs.  
Steve stopped and you almost collided into him as he turned around, you halted and tried to catch your breath.  
He looked annoyed, you didn't think a man like Captain America ever looked annoyed. Every poster, show, news cast you had seen of him, he'd always been smiling.  
It was a completely different expression than you'd have ever imagined your hero to have on his face, you swallowed and he ran a hand through his hair.  
"Why are you so stubborn?" he asked.  
"I'm not stubborn" was your immediate reply, Steve rolled his eyes.  
"You're obviously in a fair amount of pain, you can barely walk- Yet you won't ask for help"  
You shook your head "that's because, I don't need help"  
A muscle in Steve's jaw twitched and without warning he picked you up.  
"Hey!" you protested and he glared down at you.  
You swallowed again as he spoke "sometimes it's best to accept help when it's offered", he began walking and you crossed your arms across your chest feeling mortified.  
Your hero was angry at you, hell, you were angry at yourself. You needed to loosen up and try to make things right. It wasn't like you to be snippy and cranky over small things, and he was trying to help you.  
"Sorry" you whispered.  
You thought you saw a soft smile on Steve's face as he continued walking "you're welcome"  



	4. Well, That's Just Great

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has mentions of non-consent, I'm mentioning it now because I don't want someone to read what I've written and be triggered.  
> I will put a a few bold asterisks ******** before and after this bit, so that you may skip out on reading it.

Steve sat you down in a chair and stood beside you, it was the same meeting room you had been in last night. You noted that the extra shirts and the first aid kit had been removed at some point.  
"After this, you can go back to my room and rest for a while" Steve commented.  
You nodded tiredly, it wasn't as though you were in a lot of pain. If someone had asked you to rate it on a scale of one to ten, you would have said either a six point five or a seven. The pain was there and it was constant, but you could put it out of your mind. As it was, the drugs that Bruce had given you was kicking in, you felt as though there wasn't a constant pressure on your ribs and you tried to breath as evenly as possibly.  
Seconds later Tony Stark walked in, his dark hair swept back and shades over his eyes. If you had to take a wild stab in the dark, you'd guess that he was hung over.  
He sat in a seat opposite you and you felt as though you were being evaluated before Tony raised his head to look at Steve.  
"Well?" he asked, and you bet if you took off his glasses you'd see blood shot eyes and deep shadows.  
"(Y/N) (Y/L/N), accompanied the main assailant to your party" Steve started and Tony rolled his hand in a 'get on with it' motion. Steve coughed "what more is there to know?"  
Tony faced towards you "let's see now. You're what... (Y/H)... What's that in centimeters?... (Y/H/C). You've had a broken nose at some point and a small scar below your collar bone" he started rattling off. You pulled the collar of the tee shirt you were wearing, trying to cover the scar.  
"Now that's interesting, why would you cover that?" he asked.  
You shook your head.  
"I could easily get your medical records and find out how you got it, it'd take a matter of moments. But then we might find out a lot more about you than you'd want us to know" he continued as you stared at him feeling slightly exposed.  
"The scar and broken nose are from the same incident" you felt Steve stiffen slightly next to you "although my nose was set so it isn't as crooked as it could be..."  
You paused, you really didn't want to talk about your past, it was the one thing that you never wanted to remember.  
Tony continued to stare you down behind the glasses and you finally sighed "I was in a bar fight in high school" you said, hoping that he'd let you leave it at that. Let you have this lie. A smirk quirked Tony's face and he rubbed his chin, you could almost hear the friction between his hand and beard "care to continue?" of course not, of course you couldn't lie, this was a man whom would be able to look through your records.  
You swallowed, you glowered at the table as you thought back to the fight "it was just after my father was diagnosed with cancer... I was seventeen and needed money because dad couldn't work.. We couldn't afford to pay his hospital bills. Mum... Mum died when I was six" you scratched at your head, you'd give anything not to tell this story.  
"I had been taking mixed martial arts classes since I was five mind you" you paused again and felt a sticky dryness in your throat "I got a fake ID... And I figured I was fine... I knew how to handle myself... I had... Developed... Pretty well according to male friends" Tony seemed intrigued as you looked up, out of the corner of your eye you could see Steve's hand clenched into a fist, his knuckles whitening.  
"I began working at a strip club on Friday's and Saturday's... I figured, if I didn't let my grades slip than no-one would find out that my family was in financial trouble... Dad didn't know what I was doing for work. He uh... He thought we had family members helping out" you felt your nose sting, it was always a sign that you were about to cry, but you blinked back coming tears and continued "so on weekdays I studied, Friday and Saturday I stripped and on Sunday's I'd go to church and pray for forgiveness. This must have gone on for about two, maybe three moths... I'm not good at keeping track of time... ******** Anyway, I was finishing up a shift when a man grabbed me from behind and began groping me. I tried to pull away but he had a hold of me pretty tight. The other girls looked away, even my boss looked away. Apparently this man came in fairly regularly... I tried screaming and crying, but it was after hours so there were no other customers around... He took me to a back room, one that girls used when they needed to crash for the night... He locked the door and came at me... I screamed as he pulled my breasts out, when he ripped off my underwea-" ********  
"That's enough, (Y/N)" Steve said, putting his hand on your shoulder.  
Tony had his mouth slightly agape "I... I should have stopped you from saying anything further when I figured out where you were going with this"  
You bit your lip "yeah well, things like that always surprise people" you shook your head "nothing happened other than me being scared... But it was that night I met James... Apparently he didn't take too well to the shady business and backdoor dealings that were going on at the club" a shaky laugh came from you "he shot through me to get to the guy behind me. Missed my vitals... Missed the bone, but hit the guy in the heart. He was... Kind to me afterwards... That's one way to put it"  
Steve was frowning and Tony had finally taken off his shades, you were right, his eyes were blood shot "he shot you? How is that kind?" Tony asked.  
"Well... He could have aimed for the guys head, but knew that the man would have moved me to block it. James patched me up and gave me his jacket, told me not to panic" you smiled "he had a thick Russian accent. It wasn't as though he was actually being nice to me, he mentioned that I reminded him of his sister. He left after that, never told me why he shot the man or what happened to my boss..." you sighed, you had only seen his face briefly as he spoke to you, his eyes were a vivid sea blue and he wasn't one to smile. But you had developed a slight crush on the man whom had rescued you.  
"The broken nose?" Tony asked.  
"You don't have to answer that" Steve interjected as you opened your mouth.  
You closed your mouth as Tony nodded "no, don't answer that- you already said it was from the same incident"  
"Is there anything else you need to know?" you asked, closing your eyes and feeling worn out.  
"We can continue the discussion tomorrow" Steve answered, you opened your eyes to see Steve and Tony giving each other a look.  
Tony finally inclined his head "of course. There's no need to press you further today"  
You looked at Steve knowing that whether you liked it or not, he was about to pick you up again. You felt slightly bashful that you were having to rely on him.  
Tony coughed and you looked over at him "I'll get Bruce to find you a wheelchair"  
You gave Tony a relieved smile, glad that you wouldn't need to rely on Steve too heavily.  
Steve smiled "well, that'd be less awkward wouldn't it" he commented and you turned to return his smile.  
It wasn't that you didn't want him to touch you, it was more you felt embarrassed by the experience and it made you feel indebted to the man.  
"Probably won't happen until this afternoon, so if you would Cap" Tony motioned to you and Steve nodded before leaning down and picking you up.  
He walked out with you again and you felt more comfortable about it this time, knowing it would be the last time he'd be lifting you up bridal style.  
He made the way down the hall and back to his room where you had been last night, he sat you down on the couch and you noticed the book sitting on the side table "oh... To kill a mockingbird" you looked up at Steve, you remembered reading it in class and a few time after that "Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing" you quoted.  
"I uh- I haven't gotten very far in it yet" he admitted "I had just started reading it this morning before you screamed"  
You felt your cheeks warm up "sorry"  
"It's fine" he replied "honestly. Was it the pain?"  
You nodded "partly the pain, partly just a nightmare. I haven't screamed from a nightmare in a very long time"  
Steve nodded "I have to go do some incident reports from last night, would you like the TV remote?"  
You shook your head "do you mind if I read your book?"  
He picked up 'to kill a mockingbird' and handed it to you.  
"Help yourself to the food in the kitchen" you looked over to where Steve was pointing to see a modest kitchen.  
"Thanks, see you then"  
"Yeah, see you"  
He left.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a few hours and you were standing on a stool in the kitchen trying to find a bowl or plate when Steve walked back in to the room.  
He paused at the door and watched you for a moment, you could feel his watchful gaze on your back "didn't Bruce tell you to rest?" he asked as you turned to face him, he had one eyebrow raised.  
You shrugged your shoulders "he did... But then I got hungry"  
"Why are you standing on a stool?" he asked  
"I... Couldn't find the bowls" you admitted, you glanced at the ground slowly realizing that the climb up had been easy. You swallowed "so where are the bowls?" you asked, ignoring your predicament for the moment.  
Steve walked in to the kitchen and opened one of the cupboards, pulling out two bowls. He looked up at you "are you coming down?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. You nodded "yeah... In a minute" you replied, trying to think of a way to climb down that wouldn't jolt you.  
A moment later you were in the air and being placed on the ground, you looked at Steve "thanks"  
"You shouldn't climb places if you're going to get stuck" he opened one of the pots on the stove "what are you making?"  
"Just threw together some onions, herbs, a can of tomatoes and some olives... I was going to put some chicken in, but didn't want to use all the food you had"  
"By all means, use the chicken... But what is it?"  
You pulled the chicken from the fridge and started preparing it on the chopping board you had used for the vegetables "chicken cacciatore... I think... Served with pasta"  
"Italian?"  
"Well... It's quick and simple. I have enough for you as well"  
"Thanks"  
You passed the time quietly as you waited for the chicken to be cooked through and then you served up the meal in the bowls.  
Steve took a bite of the food and smiled "it's actually good"  
"Wait... Were you expecting it to be bad"  
"No, no, no!" Steve laughed "I didn't know what to expect"  
You took a bite and screwed up your noise, it had been a while since you'd last eaten and your stomach wanted to reject the food. You shoveled down fork full after fork full until your stomach settled and you let out a soft sigh of satisfaction at the end of your bowl as Steve helped himself to seconds.  
"Oh, before I forget. Bruce is coming by later with a wheelchair and more pain medication"  
"Excellent" you smiled, the pain had just begun to come back and you were ready for a new dose, as though feeling your need a knock sounded at the door.  
Steve stood and opened the door, then opened it wider so that Bruce could come in.  
You waved from your spot at the island bench where you and Steve had been eating and Bruce walked over with a smile as Steve brought in the wheelchair.  
"Well you're seeming more lively, must be the food" he noted, looking over at Steve who shook his head before looking back at you "did you make it?"  
"Yeah, there's plenty left if you want some"  
Bruce looked again at Steve who shrugged his shoulder in a way that said he didn't mind.  
With that invitation Bruce served himself, knowing where the bowls were. You glowered slightly and he looked taken aback while Steve chuckled.  
"What did I do?"  
"I think she's a little miffed that you knew where the bowls were. I came back to find her stuck standing on a stool today"  
Bruce frowned at you "didn't I tell you to rest?" he asked as he put his bowl at the place next to yours and pulled a pill bottle from his jumper pocket and placed it in front of you. You looked him over briefly, he looked like a timid man. You knew that wasn't the case, you'd always admired him and found him to be a genius as you'd read through his book. _He's kind of beautiful_ the words came unbidden to your brain.  
You quirked your lips in a quick smile "I'm very bad at following doctor's orders. Once when I had a bad flu I rearranged my whole room... Including moving my 130 pound wardrobe by myself. I may have passed out after that"  
Bruce shook his head as he and Steve ate.  
You felt quite full, you looked at the pill bottle to find your name and dosages scrawled in neat hand writing.  
"These are stronger than the ones I gave you this morning, so you need to take them with food or you'll feel worse" Bruce explained as you hopped down from the stool to look for glasses.  
"Steve... Glasses?" you asked.  
You heard him chuckling behind you "two cupboards over" he commented.  
You pulled out a glass and filled it with water before taking the two recommended tablets.  
Bruce finished his bowl and came over to rinse it as you stood by the sink, still drinking your glass of water. You couldn't remember the last time you'd had water.  
"So when did you read my book?" he asked, leaning on the counter beside you.  
"Must have been last year sometime. I had wanted to go in to nuclear physics..." you trailed off "but I didn't get the grades" you continued.  
Steve watched you thoughtfully as though putting two and two together.  
"Do you ever think you'll get back in to it?"  
You gave Bruce the warmest smile you could muster "I no longer see myself going down that road... Might become a nurse though. Was hoping to start next semester"  
A small yawn formed and you pressed your hand over your mouth.  
"Maybe you should sleep, (Y/N)" Steve prompted as he came between yourself and Bruce to rinse his bowl.  
"Sure, I'll take the couch"  
Steve gave you a pointed look and you sighed "alright... The bed it is"  
"There's a shower, if you want one. I have a shirt you can use and uh- Tony gave me a bag of... um..." the super soldier shifted his weight slightly "undergarments... Tomorrow I will send someone to get your things. Tony and I had a talk today and we think it's best if you stay here, for the time being. There's a spare room down the hall"  
Bruce nodded in agreement "that sounds like the best course of action for now"  
You wanted to say that it wasn't necessary, before the chat you'd had with Lydia slithered into your thoughts.  
"Okay" you agreed.  
Steve pointed you towards the undergarments and handed you a shirt then pointed you in the direction of the shower as he in Bruce began to talk.

You had just finished getting dried from the shower, you put on the clothes and began to open the door when you heard Bruce and Steve talking "Tony told me about the talk you had this morning" Bruce was saying, you halted the door and left it open a crack so you could hear.  
"Wasn't a great talk... Stuff like that really rubs me up the wrong way. Especially the way she smiled after saying she had been shot by the man who had rescued her" he seemed to be bristling.  
"Not everyone get's to be a stand up citizen Steve"  
"Do you think I care about that?" he growled "I care that our government is so messed up that an under aged girl had to strip to pay for her father's medical bills"  
"I agree... It's messed up and wron-"  
"Not just that... She smiled... She smiled!" he snapped "do you know who smiles about situations like that?"  
There was a pause and you heard Bruce's quiet voice "people who have had it worse"  
You quietly shut the door and sat down on the closed lid of the toilet, resting your face in your hands. You weren't fooling anyone, of course they knew there was more to you than met the eye.


	5. Control

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I have been having a busy life with writing for my band and setting up stuff for getting recognized. Sorry!  
> Here's chapter 5, sorry for taking so long!
> 
> Asterisks again because talks of suicide

You heard the front door shut and made your way out of the bathroom. You didn't want to be here, you needed to be away from here.  
Steve looked up as you entered the room, he turned away almost immediately and you frowned "what?"  
"You're uh... Not wearing pants" he replied without looking at you.  
You looked down, his shirt he'd lent you covered your thighs, it was longer than some dresses you'd seen on women in the street.  
"Well it's too warm for sweatpants" you murmured.  
"If you had said something earlier I would have grabbed you shorts"  
You studied Steve's back, appreciating the muscles in his back, he was still wearing his shirt from last night "you never changed"  
"Pardon?"  
"Your clothes from last night"  
Steve turned about, keeping his eyes focused on your top half "I forgot" he scratched the back of his head "you seemed pretty helpless"  
"Helpless?" you asked, your face full of questions.  
He shook his head "it doesn't matter. Do you need some shorts?" he asked.  
You shook your head "do you need to get clothes from your room?"  
He nodded and walked in to his room, you were already hatching a plan to leave. You didn't want to walk in on people talking about you again. It felt too much like that time in high school, where the teachers had casually chatted about you while staring at you. It had begun after an incident at the place you stripped, an incident you'd rather forget.  
Steve came back with an armful of clothes and headed in to the shower, you figured you had about fifteen minutes. You made your way in to Steve's room, grabbed a pair of his training shorts from his drawer and pulled them on. You were glad that the pain killers Bruce had given you earlier had already kicked in. You could move a tiny bit faster and didn't need to stop as often.  
You left through the front door and shut it gingerly, limping down the hall to the elevator. You entered and pressed the button for the ground floor. Holding on to the railing for support with your bad foot.  
The elevator dinged at the bottom and you quickly checked outside, seeing no-one you made your way for the front door and opened it. You stepped outside in the fresh air and let it wash over you. You breathed it in and sighed, that felt easy.  
You walked further along the track, it was getting late and the street lights were stuttering on.  
"Did you think that'd really work?" a familiar voice asked from behind you and you halted.  
"Was hoping it would" you replied as you turned around to see Bruce casually walking towards you.  
Bruce shook his head "you heard us talking about you, right?"  
"Yeah..."  
Bruce sighed "come back... I'll take you for a drive"  
"Where to?"  
"Somewhere different"  
You limped towards Bruce and he offered you an arm to lean on, you accepted and he helped you back towards the tower and to the underground car lot.  
He pulled a set of keys off one of the hooks and started towards a car, helping you in to the passenger seat. He paused at the driver's side with mobile in hand, and did something before getting in the car.  
"Just telling Steve not to worry" he told you before you could ask, putting the mobile face down in the small gap below the radio, he started the ignition and began to drive.  
He was quite, as were you. Soft classical music lilted through the car, wrapping about you and soothing your irritation.  
Finally Bruce began to speak "when I was young I was abused by my father"  
You looked at Bruce, your eyes slightly wide.  
"He killed my mother in front of me... We were packing the car and about to escape him. But he grabbed her and..." he stopped.  
You were quiet and Bruce lapsed back in to silence.  
"My dad... He... He wasn't like that... I don't think" you started, you bit your lip and looked out the window "he... He wasn't a bad person... He just got a bit violent when he was drunk. ******** I don't think mum could handle it... She took her own life when I was six ******** "  
You stopped, and looked at Bruce. You wanted to ask what happened to his father.  
He looked at you briefly "my father... Last time I saw him we fought... Was the anniversary of my mother's death. He beat me and left... Found out the next day that he was killed by muggers"  
The pair of you lapsed back in to silence as Bruce continued driving. You felt at ease with Bruce, he knew what life was like being in a family with one parent. He understood. You rested your head back against the head rest and closed your eyes.  
"Steve's a good guy" Bruce stated.  
You opened your eyes and sat up "yeah, he is..." you felt wary, wondering where he was going with this.  
"He might not understand, but if you spoke to him about your home life" he stopped as he saw you were already shaking your head.  
"He doesn't need to know" you whispered.  
"Why not?"  
"Why would he care?" you gave Bruce a smile "he's Captain America... He doesn't need to know about some poor girls struggles in life"  
"It'd help him understand you"  
"Why does he need to understand me? In 3-4 weeks I'll be gone" you stated matter-of-factly.  
Bruce shook his head "you're a very blunt person"  
"I don't like sugar-coating the truth, because once the sugar is gone it just leaves a bitter taste in your mouth"  
"Well, I can't argue with that" he replied as he came to a halt.  
You were back at the tower, you looked out to see Steve standing with a mobile to his ear and a frown on his face.  
A scowl crossed your features "dirty trick, Banner... Was any of that conversation real?"  
You turned to look at Bruce who gave you the saddest smile ever as he reached over and hung up his mobile "the only thing that wasn't true was the muggers... I killed my father".  
Bruce exited the car and you stayed rooted in place for a moment, before following suit.  
Steve eyed you speculatively, you saw the wheelchair next to him. He gestured at it. You sat down and put your arms down to wheel yourself before Steve began pushing the wheel chair.  
He was silent. You figured that you should stay quiet until he spoke.  
It wasn't until you were in the elevator, Steve pressed a button and you sat waiting for him to say something.  
He watched you for a minute as though you were a caged animal that had bitten him before.  
He finally ran his hands through his hair and pressed his back against the wall. He was no longer wearing his shirt from the party, he was in a plain white t-shirt and grey tracksuit pants. He looked as though he was ready for bed.  
"I..." you started, he looked at you and you closed your mouth.  
"I don't expect you to tell me anything..." he said slowly, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes "just..."  
He stopped, you felt a little jittery, like there was electricity in the air.  
He opened his eyes and looked at you "helpless is the wrong word"  
You blinked "what?"  
"Helpless... You aren't helpless..." he looked serious.  
You swallowed "well, thanks"  
He shook his head "what I heard... You're pretty strong"  
You both stared at each other, eyes piercing in to one another, trying to gauge the other.  
"We'll never get back if the elevator stays stopped" you said quietly.  
Steve nodded and pressed the button again, the elevator moved and you let out a sigh.  
He wheeled you back to his room and stopped near the couch.  
"What time is it?" you asked  
He looked at his phone "eight"  
"Would it be alright to watch a movie? It's just... I'm not tired yet"  
Steve nodded "sure"  
"Put on anything... That doesn't have gore"  
"(Y/F/M)?" he asked  
You looked over at him "I... I actually adore that movie" you murmured.  
Steve smiled, it looked slightly strained.  
You maneuvered yourself on to the couch and Steve sat on the other side, playing the movie.  
You were wrapped in your own world, you had seen this movie so many times that you could probably quote the movie the whole way through. It gave you a chance to quietly observe Steve.  
He didn't seem as tense about you when he wasn't facing you face-to-face, his shoulders were relaxed, his posture less rigid.  
You turned back to the movie and yawned, your eyes drifting shut.  
It'd be okay... Falling asleep.

_The hallway was dark, save for a flickering light at the end. You walked towards the light, feeling heavier and heavier. Something cold and metallic was pressed in to your hand, you looked down to see a gun. You looked back up to find yourself pointing the gun at someone's chest, a star was the only thing you could see._  
_"Could you really do that (Y/N)?" asked Lydia from behind you. Your body couldn't turn around._  
_You heard her laugh "without you knowing, I've been preparing you for this"_  
_"For what?"_  
_"You'll find out... All those memory wipes... You're an assassin" the words whispered around your head._  
_"No... No I'm not"_  
_"You're imprint-able, my father found that out... He said you could be another winter..."_  
_"What are you talking about Lydia?"_  
_"You will kill them all"_  
_"What are you talking about?"_  
_"You'll never remember these talks... I actually find that sad"_  
_"Lydia?!"_  
_"But, it's for the best"_  
_You felt leather straps encircling you._  


"No!" you cried out as you jolted awake.  
A pair of arms were about you, scooping you up "whoa, easy there"  
"What?" your bleary eyes took in Steve's face, very close to yours.  
"You fell asleep" he replied, setting you down.  
You stumbled slightly before wincing and grabbing your ribs.  
Steve wrapped an arm about you until you were steady, then helped you to his room and bed, he seemed like an older brother as he pulled back the covers and helped you get in to bed. He turned to leave and you grabbed his arm quickly.  
"Could you... Please.."  
Steve turned to look at you.  
"Could you stay until I fall asleep?" the words were hard to get out, but the dream had felt too real.  
Steve nodded "sure... Just let me get my book"  
He wandered into the lounge room and came back with a book and his pillow. He flicked on the bedside lamp and sat on top of the covers you were laying under.  
"Is the light going to bother you?" he asked as you closed your eyes.  
"No... It's alright" you whispered, letting yourself drift back asleep as you listened to Steve's gentle breathing and the sound of pages being turned. Even in your sleep you could feel Steve's presence, and it was comforting to know someone was there with you.


	6. Easy, huh?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try and make this chapter longer to make up for Chapter 5

The first thing you noticed before you woke was a warmth at your back and a warmth around your middle, it wasn't extremely hot or uncomfortable. It was nice, like body heat.  
_Body heat?_ the thought whispered in your mind, but you weren't quiet ready to open your eyes, you wanted to rest in the soft serenity a little longer, just linger in that moment between sleep and wakefulness. Your eyes fluttered as though they were going to open and you screwed them shut, _five more minutes_ , you told yourself, rolling over and hiding your face in the soft warm thing, which in turn shifted to allow you to place your head there, pulling you tight against it.  
_Movement?_ your brows furrowed, _does it matter_ , you were asking yourself a lot of questions.  
The warm thing went from soft and pliable to rigid and hard in an instant and you opened your eyes to be face-to-face with a white clad chest. You groaned and shifted your gaze upwards to see baby blues staring back at you.  
"What's a captain... Like you doing... In a dream like... This?" you asked groggily, rubbing your eyes, you definitely weren't awake yet. You closed your eyes with a yawn and attempted to go back to sleep.  
The bed shifted as though someone had gotten out, but you were too tired to care.

You opened your eyes slowly and blinked blearily, pawing at your eyes and trying to remove the sleep. Your ribs complained at the movement and a small squeak escaped your lips. You swung your legs over the side of the bed as you yawned, sitting a moment as you wiped tired tears from your face.  
You stood and padded to the door, opening it and making your way in to the kitchen.  
A note sat on the bench:  
'(Y/N),  
I have gone to get your things from the hotel.  
Feel free to eat anything in the kitchen.  
Steve'  
You stared at the note as you sat down on a stool, trying not to fall asleep again as you read it again, turning it over to find Steve's and Bruce's numbers written down.  
Slowly you realized you had walked on your heel, you tried to lift your foot to check it out but your ribs protested.  
The pills Bruce had given you last night, sat on the bench where you'd left them. You picked them up, slid off the stool and grabbed a glass from the cupboard before filling it with water. You opened the pills and stopped, the words 'with food' popped out on the side of the bottle.  
You sighed and put the bottle and the water down, searching for food to eat. You found bread and the toaster. You slipped two pieces of bread in the toaster and pushed down the button, watching it, hoping it'd go faster.  
The front door opened and shut.  
You jumped and turned about to see Steve with your suitcase, a moment later your toast popped.  
"Toast" you told him, spinning back around to continue making breakfast.  
"There's spreads on the middle shelf of the pantry" Steve commented, you followed his instructions and finished making your toast.  
"Do you want me to put some in for you?" you asked, turning back around to see Steve still standing by the door, his face seemed bashful.  
You frowned "is there something on my face?"  
Steve shook his head and brought your suitcase over to the side of the kitchen bench "no, I already ate" he replied, you shrugged and sat down in the stool you'd been sitting in earlier. Steve picked up the bottle of pills and the water, bringing them over to you. You swallowed your mouthful "thanks".  
"Good to see you following doctor's orders" Steve commented, walking into his bedroom.  
You finished your toast just as he came back out "well, it seems that these are super drugs or something" you replied.  
"Super drugs?"  
"I think my heel is healed" you took a swig of water and downed two pills.  
"Hmm... Mind if I have a look?"  
You shook your head and lifted your foot, Steve sat in the stool near yours and lifted your heel and you winced "gentle" you murmured.  
"Sorry" he hummed back, looking over your heel before letting you have it back.  
"Looks like it has healed over" Steve commented, getting up from his seat "doesn't mean you can go running around, you still have bruised ribs"  
You rolled your eyes "like I'd want to run anyways, but it mans I can go for walks at least"  
Steve considered it a moment before nodding "yeah, but no leaving the tower like last night"  
You slid off your chair, nodding "no leaving the tower, got it..."  
There must have been a look on your face because Steve shook his head and sighed "or if you're going to leave the tower, tell someone and we'll come with you"  
"What- You think I'm going to run off or get kidnapped or something?" you asked light-heartedly.  
The look Steve gave you was serious "run off... Well- If you give your word I'd believe you wouldn't"  
"I solemnly swear-" you started  
"Kidnapped... There's a possibility" Steve said over your joking attitude.  
You swallowed "there's a possibility of me being kidnapped?"  
"Well... Your friend is with HYDRA, we still don't know anything about her plan" Steve acknowledged.  
Your dream came unbidden to you and you looked away "I don't know what Lydia's plans are"  
You could feel Steve's eyes on you as you looked back at him.  
"You sound less convinced than you did the night you came here... What happened? Has she contacted you?"  
He might have been several paces away from you, but his demeanor was serious and imposing, you felt extremely small compared to him and didn't know if you wanted to tell him about the odd nightmares you'd been having.  
"(Y/N)?" he asked, you looked at the ground, anything to get away from his baby blues.  
_Didn't I see his eyes in my dreams?_  
You shrugged and kept your eyes focused on the ground, a particular stain grabbing your attention as you idly wondered what kind of stain it was.  
"I've been having these weird dreams lately... Except they feel real" you began, it could have been a coffee stain, but it was a bit too dark.  
"What kind of dreams?"  
"Nightmares... All to do with Lydia and being tortured and trained" it could be blood, dried blood looks like that.  
"Trained?"  
"... Trained to kill someone... She called me an assassin... Winter..." you stopped and looked up, Steve looked puzzled.  
"HYDRA.... Winter" his eyes were looking past your shoulder as though he was deep in thought or reliving a memory, his eyes finally settled on you "did she say anything else?"  
"Why does it matter? It was dream. I probably concocted these wild imaginings to come to terms with the betrayal of my best friend"  
Steve sighed "yeah, no... Never mind" he seemed lost in thought again "you should go and talk to Bruce for a bit, I'm going to take your things to your new room"  
You felt as though Steve was trying to block you out, his body language was rigid. You opened your suitcase and pulled out your own clothes, a plain (Y/F/C) shirt, a pair of jeans and undergarments.  
Steve was still thinking, he'd sat down at the bench.  
_I could probably change right here and he wouldn't notice_ you thought, as you made your way to his room and quickly changed.  
You came back out to see Steve still sitting at the bench "I'm just going to go see Bruce, as you suggested"  
Steve nodded, not looking at you "yeah".  
You exited the room and looked down the hall towards the elevator, the one you'd gone down in your attempt to escape, you walked over to it and had pressed the down floor button when the doors opened to reveal an imposing woman with short red hair.  
She looked you over briefly and her cool face pulled into a smirk "so you're (Y/N)"  
"Yes?" you questioned, the woman was a beauty.  
"Natasha" she told you, holding out her hand.  
You shook her hand as the door slid shut "oh"  
"Did you want to go somewhere?" she asked.  
"Yeah, I was on my way to see Doctor Banner to have a chat"  
Natasha's eyebrow gave a slight indentation momentarily before smoothing out again, you couldn't be sure that you'd actually seen it "why?"  
"I needed to get out of Steve's room, he's in a weird mood and Bruce is the only other person I know besides Mr Stark, who I know nothing about"  
She nodded "right, happens I'm going there now. I'll walk with you" she pressed the elevator button and the doors slid open.  
The pair of you walked in and had a quiet trip down.  
"What do you and Banner talk about?" Natasha asked as you exited the elevator.  
"We talked about his book last night, among other things" you left out the talk you'd had in the car, you didn't think it was right to tell her what you and Bruce had spoken about.  
"His book..." Natasha mused as you stepped into the laboratory.  
Bruce looked up "Natasha?" he asked, looking her over quickly before resting his eyes on you "(Y/N)?"  
"Bumped in to this one while she was coming to see you, decided to tag along" Natasha told him as she sauntered over to lean against his desk.  
Bruce gave her an awkward smile, one that relayed softness.  
Natasha gave him her own soft smile and you had to stop yourself from smiling, she was marking her territory.  
Bruce looked over at you "what's up (Y/N)?"  
"Was wondering about those pills you gave me and if they have extra healing in them?"  
Bruce frowned "what do you mean?"  
"I mean, my heel has healed and my ribs don't feel as though someone is constantly punching me" you responded, both Natasha and Bruce looked you over warily.  
"What?... This is almost as bad as the look Steve just gave me"  
Bruce stood up from his chair and walked over, Natasha shadowing him cautiously.  
"I was just thinking, we never ran any bloods on you" Bruce commented.  
"Why would you need bloods? It was my heel and ribs"  
Bruce gave you an easy smile "would you mind humoring me?"  
You sighed, and reluctantly agreed.  
Bruce sat you down in his chair and wrapped a strap about one of your arms, it felt almost reminiscent of your dream. You jerked away from him.  
"(Y/N)?"  
"I'm... I'm fine, sorry.." You sat still and Bruce collected your blood. He removed the needle and held a cotton ball to the place he'd pricked.  
"Hold that in place for a moment"  
You nodded and Bruce turned away to label the bloods, when he turned back he motioned for you to take away the cotton ball.  
He looked at where the needle mark was and let out a noise that sounded a mix of curiosity and a sigh "huh"  
Natasha looked over his shoulder, then up at you. Her eyes were questioning, she was looking at you as though your were a science experiment.  
You looked down to where they had both been looking, you couldn't see a needle mark.  
Bruce leaned back and took the strap off your arm, his eyes full of calculations.  
"I've always been a pretty quick healer" you joked, pushing the chair back away from the pair and standing up.  
"Extremely, by the looks of it" Natasha commented.  
"You should go have a chat with Steve while I run some tests" Bruce interjected.  
That was the second time someone had told you to speak to someone else, as though you were annoying them.  
You nodded "o-okay.."  
You left the laboratory and headed back upstairs, you almost felt like running again.  
You knocked on Steve's door, a moment later he opened the door looking puzzled "(Y/N), you could have walked in"  
"I uh- I didn't feel comfortable with the thought of that, didn't want to impose on you"  
Steve's puzzlement turned to more confusion "you're not imposing"  
"Well... You did kind of kick me out this morning"  
"I- wait... No, I wasn't kicking you out- I actually thought you might want to spend some time with Bruce. I was just a little preoccupied"  
He let you in and you entered "what about?"  
"What you said sounded familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Took a moment"  
You sat down on the couch and Steve watched you, still standing by the couch edge.  
"If you sit, I promise not to bite. Straining my neck to look up at you hurts"  
Steve nodded and sat at the far end of the couch, you were facing each other "you weren't gone very long"  
"He ended up taking my bloods, Natasha was there" you sighed.  
"Bloods. Why did he take your bloods?"  
"I asked him about the pills and he took my bloods, that is the extent of knowledge I have"  
"You sure there was nothing else?"  
"I mentioned my foot healing"  
Steve nodded, and you looked down where the needle mark still wasn't.  
You almost wished that you'd needed a band-aid, at least then you could have covered up the spot and not have to look to see evidence that you might be a freak.  
"I'm sure everything's fine, you seem normal enough" Steve smiled and you laughed.  
"What's a nice guy like you, doing in a place like this?"  
Steve froze and the bashful look he'd had earlier came back to his face.  
"What did I do?" you asked.  
He shook his head "nothing you did... I uh... I fell asleep on the bed last night"  
"Oh... Is that all?" you asked with a raised eyebrow.  
"Kind of a big deal in my day, sleeping in the same bed as a girl"  
You laughed "I almost forgot that you aren't from this day and age"  
Steve rolled his eyes with his own chuckle "it's hard to get used to girls these days. You're all so laid back and easy about everything"  
"Easy, huh?"  
"Not easy to talk to women from your time"  
You smiled "well, you seem to be doing a fine job of it Captain"  
"Easy is the last word that comes to mind. I keep having to watch my step with you"  
"Oh, really?" you found that hard to believe.  
"Like this morning, you rolled over and I automatically hugged you"  
"Wait... That wasn't a dream?"  
Steve blushed slightly "no. I woke up after that, you asked me a question then fell back asleep. I figured you were faking it to avoid an awkward situation"  
"No... No... I was just extremely tired" you replied, feeling your own blush.  
"Well, this is awkward"  
"Not if we don't let it be, I'm all cool with the fact you hugged me"  
Steve smiled "as long as you're cool with it"  
You returned his smile.  
"Now, we should probably move you over to that spare room" he commented  
"Rightio"  



End file.
